


to be, it's only you

by plinys



Category: Birds of Prey (And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) (2020)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-01
Updated: 2021-01-01
Packaged: 2021-03-10 21:54:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,557
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28144179
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/plinys/pseuds/plinys
Summary: Her phone is tucked away securely in her pocket, because at least then she won’t have to open it up and be forced to acknowledge that the last page opened on her phone is a wikiHow article titled: ‘How to Admit Your Feelings and Finally Get The Girl’.
Relationships: Helena Bertinelli/Dinah Lance
Comments: 14
Kudos: 126
Collections: Yuletide 2020





	to be, it's only you

**Author's Note:**

  * For [samalander](https://archiveofourown.org/users/samalander/gifts).



None of her training had covered this. 

Which, she supposes in a way, wasn’t too much of an oversight. She’d been trained to be a hunter, a  _ Huntress _ , to get revenge against those that had taken her family from her. That had always been her plan and purpose, never had there really been a plan for what would happen after that was all over, so there was no need to learn any practical life skills. 

She could hit any shot, never miss her mark.

But there were other things she couldn’t do, doesn’t know how to do, things that maybe in another life, maybe had she been able to grow up like a normal person, she would have learned the normal way from the parents she no longer had or the nannies that they would have inevitably hired to look after her. 

She can’t write a check.

She doesn’t know how to cook a turkey. 

And most importantly, or perhaps worst of all, she doesn’t know what to do with all of these  _ feelings _ . The way her heart rate picks up, not in fear or danger, but in something else entirely, every time that Dinah comes around. 

Normally when there was something that she didn’t know how to handle, Dinah would be the one that Helena would turn to for advice. Dinah had been the one to insist that no question was a dumb question and then admitted that she could never figure out how to write a check either, and just googled it every time she needed to remember. 

Her phone is tucked away securely in her pocket, because at least then she won’t have to open it up and be forced to acknowledge that the last page opened on her phone is a wikiHow article titled: ‘How to Admit Your Feelings and Finally Get The Girl’.

“I thought my idea was a great one,” comes the whine of the one person that Helena had been able to come to for advice.

Even if her advice had been less than ideal, “You suggested leaving a corpse on her doorstep like a cat bringing a dead rat home,” Helena reminds her. “I don’t know much about romance, but I feel like that is not going to win me any points.” 

Harley wrinkles her nose in disapproval at Helena’s reply. “I didn’t say it like that.” 

She did.

Basically.

Or well, it had been part of a long ten-minute master plan of seduction that for the first minute Helena had maybe been onboard for, before it took a dramatic turn into activities that felt even a bit too illegal for her. 

The point was there.

And as romantic as disposing of a body with the Dinah would be, they have technically done that before, and the moonlight shining down on the docks had made Dinah look very pretty and kissable, Helena was pretty sure that there had to be an easier way to admit her feelings for the other woman, one with a little less murder. Not that Helena was usually opposed, but it was different when they deserved it, and also - “I’m trying to turn over a new leaf. I thought you were going to do the same thing.” 

_ Thought  _ was a very loose word for that one, nobody has ever really believed a chance of it happening. Whereas, Helena on the other hand, had people believing in her. This was why doing this right was so important. 

Harley, oblivious to Helena’s internal crisis, makes a disgusted face, and says, “Gross.” 

“You know, Harley, as great as this advice was, maybe I should just give up.” 

Giving up certainly felt easier than whatever this was.

Maybe it wouldn’t be too late to swing by a library and try to find a book, something like  _ Love and Emotions for Dummies _ , to help out with this whole mess of a situation. 

“Okay, first off, killing men isn’t a crime,” Harley insists. “It’s a community service! The people would thank you or they should be thanking you!”

Maybe turning to the person who's ex was literally the worst human in all of existence, and who currently had their eye on seducing a toxic plant, wasn’t actually her best idea. 

In hindsight, she should have asked Renee. At least, Renee had been in a relationship with a relatively normal person before, even if it had ended terribly. 

Why did everyone she know seem to have relationships that have ended badly?

Maybe it was a sign that all of this was a lost cause. 

“And secondly, you can’t give up!” 

“Give me one good reason, why?” 

Harley purses her lips as if genuinely trying to think of one, before shrugging, and simply settling on, “Because I said so.” 

“Right, of course, that makes perfect sense, why didn’t I think of that?” 

“What makes perfect sense?”

The sound of a third voice is such a shock that Helena jolts in her chair. All of her years of training, only to die by the object of her affection sneaking up on her while she was literally the topic of discussion.

A fitting end. 

How had she been so caught up in her conversation with Harley that she didn’t notice Dinah coming in? 

“Romance, of course,” Harley chirps without a concern in the world. 

Helena’s certain that her heart is beating so loud that anyone could hear it, because Dinah is still waiting for an explanation, and Harley is meddlesome enough to give the one that Helena is definitely not ready for. 

“Harley’s leaving,” Helena says quickly, standing up and moving to tug Harley up from her chair and push her towards the exit. 

“Aww you’re not fun!”

“Are you even allowed to be here,” Dinah asks, eyes settling on Harley. “If Renee saw you-”

Harley simply shoots her finger guns, “On second thought, you never saw me.”

“She’s literally looking at you right now,” Helena points out, while Dinah just arches a skeptical eyebrow at the both of them. 

Thankfully Harley allows herself to be shooed out of the door, with only a little bit more fake dramatics, and Helena can’t help but heave a sigh of relief once she manages to get Harley back onto the streets again and can safely return to their no longer so secret base. 

Even if that means returning to where Dinah is in the process of getting ready for a night of patrolling the city. 

Her questioning gaze still there as she asks - “So, romance?”

Helena groans, “Please, don’t listen to Harley.” 

Dinah laughs. Perhaps one of the greatest sounds in the universe. “I guess I’m just surprised you went to her for advice, usually I’m the one you turn to.” 

Helena bites her cheek. Unwilling to point out the very good reason for why she couldn’t do that, it was because the person she needed advice on how to  _ seduce  _ was Dinah herself. 

So she lies and says, “You seemed busy.”

And tries to pretend her heart isn’t ready to leap from her chest when Dinah replies, “I’m never too busy for you.” 

It can’t hurt to ask.

Maybe.

Especially if she’s vague. 

“It may have been about romance,” Helena says, speaking quickly, willing her face not to flush. “I just don’t have much experience, and so I turned to someone who had some experience.” 

“She dated the Joker, not exactly the person I would have turned to for advice.” 

“Ha, yeah, well, I…”

“Unless,” Dinah pauses. A look that’s a muddle of disapproval and maybe something more than Helena can’t quite unpack crosses her features. “I mean, unless, you asked her advice because the person that you like is Harley, which I guess I could see but-”

“No! God no! I mean, no offense to her, but no!”

“Good.”

“Good?” 

This time Dinah is the one that avoids her eye contact, but maybe that’s just because she’s trying to get ready, or maybe… “I mean, doesn’t she have that thing for the plant girl or whatever?”

“Oh yeah, right, so a lost cause anyway,” Helena shrugs.

Aiming for casual.

Maybe missing the mark, a bit. 

“What advice did she end up giving you, anything good?” 

“That depends,” Helena replies. “On a scale of one to ten, how romantic is dumping a body together?” 

Dinah seems to consider it for only just a moment, before she simply replies, “Depends on who I’m doing it with?” 

Helena’s dumb traitorous heart starts to pick up speed again, against her better judgment. 

“What if it was me?”

“Then that would be a ten out ten.” 

“Oh.”

_ Oh _ .

“Oh?”

“What if I was to ask you out for dinner or breakfast, maybe, tomorrow, after we dumb bodies tonight, and maybe that could be as a date or something,” Helena aks, the words coming out all in a rush. “I mean, only if you want to! If not we can pretend this conversation had never happened and-” 

“I’d love to.” 

“Really?” 

“Really.” 

Maybe asking the girl of her dreams out on a date, was easier than writing a check after all. 

Who would have thought?

Maybe she did actually know what she was doing? 

Maybe - “I still can’t believe that you went to  _ Harley _ for advice about me.” 

Then again, maybe not. 

“To be fair, I did try googling it first.”


End file.
